Monday, April 26, 2010

Once again, here's another piece of that American Pop Culture history that is Lawrence Welk's Musical Family on the cover plus written articles from those vintage celebrity fan magazines.This one is TV Star Parade from March 1973, Sally Flynn is featured....

The article inside talks about Sally's departure from the Welk Show. Written by Suzie Fox, it mentions that her decision to leave the Music Makers is to pursue a dramatic acting career in New York, which I assume it's Broadway.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

This was in reference back to my previous Tiger Beat magazine cover post....

Thanks to the miracle of Photoshop, you can have your own Anacani poster!Just right click on picture to save.Printing an 8"x 11" is simple enough (standard size of paper), but as for a 16"x 20", 18"x 24" or even a 24"x 36" I haven't figured it out yet....work and research is still in progress

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

It's book report time here at Welk Musical Family and today I will give my synopsis on the Lennon Sisters autobiography Same Song - Separate Voices

First published in 1985 by Roundtable Publishing, with an updated version coming a decade later, Same Song - Separate Voices is unique because it was a quartet-authored autobiography.

Dee Dee, Peggy, Kathy and Janet in their words chronicle their lives growing up in Southern California, their singing careers, life with Lawrence Welk and afterwords. They also give a detailed whos who from the Lennon Family tree.

All the stories the girls tell are very touching, sentimental, funny and sad all at the same time. We get to know about Nana, the sisters grandma as well as their dad William Lennon who himself was a terrific Irish tenor. I liked their tales from the road such as when Dad Lennon made sure the girls had a real meal instead of drive-in fast food grub when it came to dinner, plus the stories of how each of the girls met their husbands.

Also worth reading is the account of their father's tragic death, murdered by a deranged fan, and how the girls and the whole family coped with this unfathomable tragedy.That and also their showbiz career post-Welk, which they sang with Andy Williams and later at the Champagne Theater in Branson, in which the latter can be found in the updated 1995 version.

If you can get your hands on a copy, you'll enjoy this book, and get to know America's Singing Sweethearts in a whole new light!

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Hello again everybody, this is Ted Husing with another trip down the Great White Way....

Actually, this is just your friendly blogmaster doing his lame impression of Mr. Husing, the famous announcer of radio and newsreels of the 1930s and 40s who coined the term "Great White Way" for Broadway.I have no idea why it was called that, but one thing is for sure, we'll salute some of the best Broadway showtunes in this week's Welk episode and as ol' Ted would say, "It's OK Mr. Doorman, we have special permission to watch and waiter a ringside table please!"And on with the show!

Here's Mary Lou pondering about what the critics think of her performance in "The Music Man".....

George Cates has got Boogie Fever with Anacani.....

....and seconds after this musical number, a food fight breaks out at the catering table.

TOP SONGS FROM BROADWAY SHOWS - September 21, 1974

1. ON A WONDERFUL DAY LIKE TODAY - Ken, Jimmy, Tom, Bobby, Gail, Tanya, Mary Lou & Cissy2. AS LONG AS HE NEARS ME - the Orchestra3. I CONFESSED TO THE BREEZE - Guy Hovis & Ralna English4. TILL THERE WAS YOU - Norma Zimmer5. DANCING IN THE DARK - danced by Bobby Burgess & Cissy King

10. MEDLEY OF SONGS FROM "ROBERTA" - the Orchestra with George Cates conducting11. TEA FOR TWO - sung in Spanish by Anacani12. HELLO! DOLLY! - danced by Arthur Duncan13. ON THE STREET WHERE YOU LIVE - Tom Netherton

We got to see Ava Barber sing a Broadway song for the first time, since she had been with the show for a few months at the time, and "Bushel and a Peck" was very cute and lively, especially when she's joined by her husband Roger Sullivan on the drums.

Mary Lou hosted tonight's show, and as for the Music Man reference, she was actually in that famous Meredith Wilson play. When she was a kid, she played Amaryllis in the National Touring Company's production and before that was in Arthur Miller's play "The Crucible".So you can see why Mary Lou has a fondness for the music of Broadway and so do we!

So until next week, keep a song in your heart and as Ted Husing would say "Song long from the Great White Way."

From Hollywood, The Lawrence Welk Network presents....

ORIGINAL ARTWORK BY JB FUNKY HIMSELF

About Me

The blogmeister is also the webmaster behind the very successful Welk Musical Family.com. I have been a fan of Lawrence Welk since I was a youngster (not too long ago!) and have watched (and taped) his show every Saturday night on my local PBS station, WGTE and sometimes WBGU. My hometown and current residence is Toledo, Ohio and in recent years, I have attended many of their live concerts and had the chance to meet many of the wunnerful music makers as well.